Recipe: Creamy butternut squash bisque

"A perennial favorite is butternut squash, a peanut-shaped winter squash with yellow-tan skin and sweet, nutty orange flesh. Often roasted as a side dish because it's so easy to peel, slice and cook - all you need to make it shine is a sprinkle of salt and drizzle of olive oil - butternut also makes the great base for a creamy and super-nutritious, seasonal soup."

"It starts with an aromatic, mirepoix-like mix of onion, carrots and celery sauteed in olive oil. The fragrant broth that cooks the veggies after chunks of squash are added also includes garlic, ginger and coconut milk, which adds a lovely creaminess and subtle coconut flavor. The original recipe includes a teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg, but I wasn't quite ready to commit to Thanksgiving flavors. So I flavored the soup instead with curry powder and a pinch of red pepper."

Cooler autumn weather brings seasonal produce like pumpkins, root vegetables, kale and winter squash to markets, with butternut squash particularly popular. Butternut has yellow-tan skin and sweet, nutty orange flesh that roasts well and also forms a creamy, nutritious soup base. The recipe uses an aromatic mirepoix-like sauté of onion, carrots and celery in olive oil, then adds squash, garlic, ginger and coconut milk for creaminess and subtle coconut flavor. Spices can vary; curry powder and a pinch of red pepper substitute cinnamon and nutmeg in this version. The soup can be pureed in the pot with an immersion blender.

Read at Boston Herald